Water and Politics

“Fierce competition for freshwater may well become a source of conflict and wars in the future”                                                                                                                                          – Kofi Annan, 2001 The World Bank estimates that the total annual requirements to meet basic needs as well as fulfil other uses such as agriculture, energy production and industry per person is approximately 1080 m 3 of water, with over 92% of this being for the latter (World Bank, n.d.). 11 countries in arid or semiarid regions of Africa and the Middle East had less than the average requirement of 1000 m 3     of freshwater availability in 1990 and are projected to have substantially less water per person in 2025 (Gleick, 1993).   Access to safe and abundant freshwater supplies to meet the demands of the population per person is a growing issue particularly with high population growth rates concentrated in some water stressed regions and those that sha

 Introductions to this blog series on East African water politics: My name is Mary Habtes and over the course of several weeks, I will explore the dynamics of water politics, riparian rights, development in conjunction with the growing political unsettlement within the region. I have chosen to focus on East African political issues relating to water for various reasons; firstly I have a emotional tie to the region coming from an East African background, I have seen and heard first hand the numerous economic, social and political issues that have resulted from poor governance, climate issues and stagnant economies and in many occasions water is the common denominator. In addition to this, East Africa has been a key region for water scarcity and heavily publicised since the late 90s due to the level of extreme poverty faced in the region. Much of this has been attributed to inadequate rainfall, extreme climate variabilities exacerbated by climate change, a lack of funding and investment